Before Russell Crowe did it, though, The Peking, one of the tall ships at the nearby South Street Se

One of the world s most notorious sailing routes lays off Cape Horn at the southern most tip of South America. Violent storms, massive rental cars boston waves, biting cold, and ferocious winds frequent this spot on the map where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet.
Since European explorers started sailing there four hundred years ago, the Cape has claimed at least a thousand vessels and fifteen thousand sailors. In addition to the lost, countless Pacific-bound captains tried in vain sometimes for weeks, even months to Round the Horn, only to turn around and sail east past Africa and India rather than spend another day in the tempest.
Even though the Panama Canal lessened its role in international trade and persons going from New York to San Francisco now have more convenient travel options, Rounding the Horn still holds an important place in our popular rental cars boston consciousness, especially in movies, rental cars boston which allow us to get a sense of the Horn s power for a safe distance.
Before Russell Crowe did it, though, The Peking, one of the tall ships at the nearby South Street Seaport, famously rounded the Horn in 1929. A sailor and amateur moviemaker named Irving Johnson shot footage on the trip that also became a well-known film.
During Advent s four weeks, Christians attempt to make a spiritual journey to the heart of faith to the reality of God s eternal Word taking on our human flesh, dwelling among us, and setting the stage for our salvation and Creation s redemption through Jesus death and resurrection.
This is the time of year, for example, when so many things fill our calendars that catching even a quiet moment seems impossible, yet these are also the days when the Church calls us to do the important work of introspection and repentance.
During days when our bent toward instant gratification makes it s really easy to eat too much, and drink too much, and spend too much, the Church places before us some of the most aching aspects of our tradition.
The prayers of Exiles who longed to go home, the cries of hurting people who wanted to be set free from pain, the hope of expectant people who went down to the Jordan River just to hear a wild-eyed preacher the people we meet during Advent s four weeks are not content with their lot in life.
Come here, God! Come quickly because there are brambles in our lives that we can t escape. There are problems in this world that we just don t understand. There is pain in this world and within our hearts that our best efforts just can t assuage.
Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. (Matthew 11: 2-5)